On March 1 and 2, 2017, SAMU held their annual sustainability drive, this year named SUSTAINaMANIA. The event consisted of many booths, including DIY workshops, which teach and promote sustainable practices.

The information booth was giving away free flower or tomato seeds to encourage sustainable practices of growing your own garden.

Interactive workshops included building your own terrarium, making a face scrub, and creating your own herbal or green tea.

Sydney Fox, a third-year MacEwan student who partook in the workshops, has managed to “kill every plant [she has] ever owned,” and was excited to make her own terrarium with the Axis Mundi Artistry booth. She claimed “the plant is still, miraculously, alive.”

Terrariums self-nourish and are easy to maintain, according to their description on ambius.com. The website states that they do not require soil, and after soaking the terrarium every week for five minutes, do not require much extra water as they recycle moisture.

Fox also stated that, while she had not yet tried the face scrub she had the opportunity to make, she had also learned how to create her own tea herbal citrus tea, “which tasted great.”

The MacEwan Office of Sustainability was present at the event, providing information on their activities around campus. Did you know that MacEwan plays host to a system of four beehives located on the top of Building 5? March 2 marked the first day tours were given of the hives.

Local carshare Pogo and the Happy Campus Oikos club, which is described as “an organization that provides a platform for encouraging discussions on sustainability within the spheres of management and economics” on their Facebook page, also had booths providing innovative ways to practice sustainable living.
The event also included a free store. Faculty members and students were asked to donate old items – such as electronics, games, and lightly used clothing – which other students were encouraged to pick up for free. This promoted initiatives to recycle one man’s junk into another man’s treasure.

Cover photo supplied.